Karol Berger

Osgood Hooker Professor in Fine Arts, Stanford University

EURIAS Visiting Fellow
(September 2011 – June 2012)

Project:

After Reason.
Wagner contra Nietzsche

My project centers on the interrelated answers that Wagner and Nietzsche gave to the question of how to fill the cultural vacuum created by the post-1848 collapse of Hegelianism. My effort will be to show that, even though the answers eventually arrived at by the two thinkers diverged, Wagner’s point of departure was similar to that later reached by Nietzsche. I shall also try to demonstrate that Nietzsche’s evolution was shaped by a continuous dialogue with Wagner, while Wagner’s purposes were formulated against the background of Nietzsche’s objections.